CVER News 2018

November 2018

Congratulations to CERC post-doc Adel Elghafghuf and his wife Salma on the birth of their baby girl, Nourseen, born on November 9th!

Danielle Burnett won “Best Oral Presentation” at the 12th International Sea Lice 2018 (Nov 4 – 8) conference in Patagonia, Chile.
Danielle’s presentation on “Using a biological-physical model to quantify sea lice larval connectivity among salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, Canada” won her top prize in the category of “Best Oral Presentation”. Congratulations Danielle!

October 2018

Welcome Wendy Campbell as the new CERC admin assistant started on October 22

Graduate students positions: Health Management is seeking three highly-qualified applicants for MSc and Ph.D. student positions in dairy health research with emphasis on antimicrobial use, antimicrobial resistance and calf management on Canadian dairy farms.

Questions about the position can be addressed to Drs. Javier Sanchez, Luke Heider and J T Mcclure by emailing the project manager, Art Gennis (agennis@upei.ca.)

Closing date for applications is November 30th, 2018 or until suitable candidates are identified.

September 2018

July – August 2018

Welcome Vince Repaci as the new CERC Project ManagerVince comes to CERC with a background in science, a wealth of skills and knowledge in project management. He has a PhD in conservation genetics that focused on the major histocompatibility complex, and has done some work on population genetics of Amazonian fishes. Vince has worked on some large long term transformation IT projects at Universities and also some shorter consulting projects across education, healthcare and finance. We are happy to welcome his expertise to CERC team. Vince has recently moved to PEI from Australia.

Welcome Stephanie Palmer as the CERC Scientific EditorStephanie joins CERC team with PhD in Geography. Stephanie is currently carrying out postdoctoral research at the Université de Nantes (France) in the Mer Molecules Santé laboratory as part of the EU Horizon 2020 project Tools for Assessment and Planning of Aquaculture Sustainability (TAPAS), focused on linking satellite image data with bivalve growth models. In addition to her own scientific career, over the past eight years, Stephanie has worked with researchers and research teams from around the world on the communication of their scientific work, mainly through scientific editing and French-to-English translation, as well as the creation of public outreach and education materials. Stephanie was born, raised, and now is residing again in PEI.

June 2018

Congratulations to Emily Kathambi Kiugu who has successfully defended her MSc thesis

supervisor: John VanLeeuwen

Another great success – Epi on the Island 2018This year, the two 5-day summer courses, held at the AVC from Jun 11 to 22, were filled close to the maximum capacity. The participants were from the USA, Uruguay, Kenya and Sweden in addition to across the different parts of Canada.The first course, “Introduction to Multilevel Modelling,” provided the participants with the knowledge and skills required to successfully fit multi-level models to both continuous data and discrete data. The instructors were Drs. I. Dohoo and H. Stryhn of the AVC.
The second course, “Multivariate Visualization and Analysis,” introduced the participants to a range of multi-variate techniques that are used in the analyses on large and complex observational epidemiological data sets. The instructors were Drs. C. Revie, G. McEwan, and H. Stryhn from the AVC.

Dr. Greg Keefe appointed to Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges
Dr. Keefe has been appointed to the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges’ (AAVMC) board of governors as At-Large Director for Region II (Canada). The AAVMC members include 49 accredited veterinary medical colleges in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Dr. Larry Hammell appointed to independent expert panel on aquaculture science
Dr. Hammell has been appointed to an independent expert panel on aquaculture science, led by Dr. Mona Nemer, Canada’s Chief Science Advisor. The panel make recommendations on the appropriate use and consideration of scientific evidence in decision-making about aquaculture.

April – May 2018

Congratulations and farewell to Dr. Julian Reyes-Velez for his new position as a Health Analyst at the PEI Dept of Health and Wellness

Dr. Javier Sanchez appointed to international scientific experts panel
Dr. Sanchez has been selected to be part of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment Roster of Experts (JEMRA) for a five-year term. Dr. Sanchez’s appointment makes AVC the only Canadian veterinary college to be represented on the panel. Congratulations, Dr. Sanchez!

Dr. Alice Crook wins international award
Dr. Crook has received international recognition for her work in animal welfare from the World Veterinary Association (WVA) and Ceva Santé Animale, a multinational veterinary pharmaceutical company. During the WVA’s 34th annual Congress on May 6, Dr. Crook was awarded the WVA Animal Welfare Award for North America. She is one of only five veterinarians world-wide who received the prestigious awards. Congratulations, Dr. Crook!

January – March 2018

Welcome to a new graduate student:

Marianne Parent, PhD in Epidemiology

Supervisors are Raphael Vanderstichel and Henrik Stryhn

Welcome to visiting graduate students:

Monica Cecilia Miraballes, from the National Institute of Agricultural Research in Uruguay

Local supervisor is Javier Sanchez

Yosdany Centelels García, from the National Centre for Animal and Plant Health in Cuba

Local supervisor is Javier Sanchez

Welcome to Jaewoon Jeong to UPEI and welcome (back) to Beibei Jia to UPEI. They have joined the CERC group as Post-Doctoral researchers in aquatic epidemiology.